Manchester Airport Fire Service procures new vehicles

Manchester Airport’s Fire Service has unveiled six new Oshkosh Global Striker Vehicles, as part of a £4.2million investment into the airport fire operation.

The fire vehicles are equipped with the latest technology to assist in making firefighting operations safer, including Forward Looking Infra-Red Cameras, High Reach Extendable Turrets (also known as ‘Snozzles’) and more environmentally-friendly foam.

They’ve been built in and shipped from Wisconsin, USA over the last three months and firefighters at Manchester Airport have been training on them since July this year. The sixth and final vehicle arrived in late September and all 84 firefighters who are based at Manchester Airport are now fully trained to use the vehicles and equipment.

Steve Metcalf, Manchester Airport’s Chief Fire Officer & Emergency Services Manager, said: “The introduction of this fleet has presented us with the opportunity to introduce a new operational model incorporating a completely fresh approach, adopting revised tactics and techniques to enable us to create a safer environment for our passengers, operating crews and firefighters. These are exciting times for the Fire & Rescue Service at Manchester Airport as these new procedures, supported by our new vehicles, have modernised our operation.”

The new fire vehicles were showcased to 150 guests at an event held at Manchester Airport’s Runway Visitor Park. Guests from emergency services around the country as well as MAG colleagues, former Manchester Airport firefighters, Oshkosh and Terberg DTS representatives were also shown a demonstration of the new vehicles in action using the airport’s training ground, Big Rig.